Guilty Wives by James Patterson and DavidEllis

I have not read anything recently by either author so I can’t judge this book by any past books of theirs. All I can say about Guilty Wives is ‘wow’.  If anyone is looking for something that will keep your brain engaged and  keep you on the edge of your seat, then I cannot recommend this book enough.

If just one tenth of what these authors wrote about Frances legal system is correct, then I have to really thank God for ours, no matter how it can seem unfair to some people at times. This was a very fast-paced novel written in the first person.  Everything is seen through the eyes of Abbie Elliot and I think that this creates a wonderful tension throughout the entire book and especially through the courtroom scenes and her incarceration.

Abbie and her three close friends are going away for a girl’s weekend in Monte Carlo.  They are rich and very privileged women.  They have also been somewhat mistreated by their husband’s, and in one instance even abused, so that gives them a bit of leeway to act as they did when first arriving in Monte Carlo. In the first part of the book, leading up to their arrest and for even a time afterwards, you will not feel that you will ever come to like or sympathize with them.  You may even feel contempt for them as I did, until the the horrors of what they are facing starts and the unspeakable happens.  Now they are involved in a murder investigation and implicated in the murder of a high powered person, one I would never have thought to be in a position TO be murdered!

 The fast pacing, wonderful descriptions and well-written trauma bring to life what is most likely every persons nightmare.  Being thrust into a situation that you have no control over, being abused and kept helpless by some of the people that should be protecting you, people whom you’ve trusted, this is some of what these women faced.

I hate to use a cliché, but this was one heck of a gripping read. I could not put this book down and if it is  any reflection at all of what Mr. Patterson and Mr. Ellis can accomplish together, then I hope they will collaborate again in the very near future.